The McKinney-Vento
program is designed to address the problems that homeless children
and youth have faced in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in
school. Under this program, State education agencies (SEAs) must
ensure that each homeless child and youth has equal access to the
same free, appropriate public education, including a public
preschool education, as other children and youth. Homeless children
and youth should have access to the educational and other services
that they need to enable them to meet the same challenging State
student academic achievement standards to which all students are
held. In addition, homeless students may not be separated from the
mainstream school environment. States and districts are required to
review and undertake steps to revise laws, regulations, practices,
or policies that may act as a barrier to the enrollment, attendance,
or success in school of homeless children and youth.
The McKinney-Vento Act
defines “homeless children and youth” as individuals who lack a
fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. The term includes—
·
Children and youth who are:
o
Sharing the housing of
other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a
similar reason (sometimes referred to as doubled-up);
o
Living in motels, hotels,
trailer parks, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative
adequate accommodations;
o
Living in emergency or
transitional shelters;
o
Abandoned in hospitals; or
o
Awaiting foster care
placement
·
Children and youth who have
a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not
designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping
accommodation for human beings;
·
Children and youth who are
living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings,
substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
·
Migratory children who
qualify as homeless because they are living in circumstances
described above.
McKinney-Vento
Training (pdf)
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